Appearances

Contents

Involvement

Crawmerax appears in the mission You. Will. Die. after finishing the main story included with the Secret Armory of General Knoxx.

Information

Crawmerax the Invincible is a fully grown Crab Worm with a heavily armored and spiked shell. He looks like a titanic version of a Larva Crab Worm with glowing purple critical-hit spots on his body. The Larva Crab Worms seen in the Lost Cave and the Trash Coast are pathetic in comparison.

He is one of the most difficult bosses, if not the most time consuming in all of Borderlands. Even a four player party will have a decent challenge defeating him. However, if everyone in the party is equipped properly, of high level, and have chosen their skills and tactics wisely, they will have an easier time with it.

As stated in the loading screens, Crawmerax has a chance of dropping the rarest gear seen on Pandora (Pearlescent items).

Level Scaling

Regardless of playthrough,

Crawmerax will scale to 4 levels above the host, but has a minimum of 64 and a maximum of 72.

The Craw Maggots are scaled 1 level above the host, but have a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 69.

The Green Craw Worms are scaled 2 levels above the host, but have a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 69.

The Armored Craw Worms are scaled 3 levels above the host, but have a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 70.

Strategies

Attacks and Behaviors

Crawmerax the Invincible is a daunting opponent, but the basis of his attacks narrows down to four main behaviors:

Bite/Claw Attack: Crawmerax approaches the player, then proceeds to lunge and bite the player, no different than the attacks that normal Craw Worm enemies unleash. The range of this attack is phenomenal, but not unavoidable.

Glob Storm: Crawmerax rears backward, then expels about ten purple globs against the opponents. Crawmerax leads his aim, so it is possible to dodge if movements are timed properly.

During this attack, Crawmerax nearly freezes in position, leaving his vulnerable spots stationary. Teammates positioned behind Crawmerax should take this opportunity to deal some damage. Players in front of Crawmerax will want to take aim at his eye, since this is the smallest and sometimes hardest to hit of his weak points. A few well placed Sniper or Masher rounds can disable the eye, but leaves the player vulnerable to the globs. If any critical area of Crawmerax is destroyed in the process, this will interrupt the glob attack.

Crawmerax can shoot the globs in any direction regardless of which way he is facing. He will always face his initial target but if another player attracts aggro (e.g., if the initial target phase shifts) he can fire the globs directly backwards.

When Lilith is using Phasewalk she won't take damage if any globs hit the target.

Cry for Help: Crawmerax roars and burrows underground, reappearing after some time in a different location on the battlefield. This attack is most often seen when the number of minions on the field dwindles, or when Crawmerax has lost some portion of his health. At this point, Green Craw Worms, Craw Maggots, and Armored Craw Worms (up to a maximum total of 3) will spawn at various locations in the arena.

Crawmerax only keeps three of any assorted type of minions with him at all times (though on rare occasions for whatever reason, it's been experienced to see him only have two at a time). By a process of elimination, players can select which of his minions remain with him. To do this, players must kill the unfavorable minions while leaving the preferred minions alone (i.e. Killing the Green and Maggot Craws yet keeping the Armored Craws alive). One might choose to keep the Armored Craws alive simply because they are the slowest moving minions available to Crawmerax. However, like the other minions, Armored Craws can still annihilate a player with projectile attacks.

Monstrous Dive: This is Crawmerax's most devastating attack to a group of Vault Hunters, as the radius of the attack covers a great portion of the battlefield. Crawmerax will burrow underground, then leap into the sky, creating a huge shockwave when he surfaces that sends players skyward. This attack completely wipes out shields and does severe damage to all that are hit.

Players can avoid damage from this attack entirely by using the pillars or other battlefield obstructions as cover.

Normally, players are sent flying into the air when this hits them. To avoid the launching effect of the shockwave, jump before Crawmerax dives up into the air. The damage will still be taken, but the launching effect will be nullified.

If timed correctly, as it moves back to original position (after the second sub-surface), Sirens can Phasewalk behind Crawmerax's back and take out his back critical spot. Doing so may leave a player vulnerable to a bite/claw attack.

Be sure to distinguish the difference between Cry for Help and Monstrous Dive, as they both have similar animations. While both involve Crawmerax burrowing underground, he roars during Cry for Help, but not Monstrous Dive. This can help players anticipate and prepare for either attack accordingly. You will also notice that when Crawmerax prepares for the Monstrous Dive, he buries himself backwards, unlike while he performs the Cry for Help, where he buries head first.

Weaknesses

Craw Maggots are weak to melee and shock damage. Their eye and underbelly are their main weak points. A high-level Eridian Thunder Storm can kill them in one or two shots up close. Also notice that they are stunned when shocked.

If intending to have a weapon equipped for each type of minion, an easy way to remember which element to use on each enemy is this: The enemies and their corresponding elemental vulnerability are both in alphabetical order (Armored Craw Worms: Acid; Craw Maggots: Electricity; Green Craw Worms: Fire). Keeping this in mind, equipping each of those elements in that order will minimize confusion.

Despite popular belief, Crawmerax himself is not weak to any element.

Glitches

It is possible for Crawmerax himself to fly off the cliff. It's still possible to kill him, but any loot he drops will be unreachable.

This also applies to his minions, specifically Green Craw Worms and Craw Maggots, since they are capable of charging at players. A dodgy player can effectively decrease the number of active minion threats in the arena by causing them to charge off the cliff.

Sometimes, a character can be knocked off the cliff and still survive, with the screen turning red. Moving far enough in any direction will cause a death and respawn, or a player could cause a death and respawn with grenades or a rocket launcher.

Just before going through the red barrier at the top of the elevator, a player can be launched into the air with a well-timed jump. Spamming the jump button makes this easier.

When going up the elevator, jumping on teammates may push them through the elevator floor and leave them stranded at the bottom of the shaft. The button to lower the elevator will be unreachable, so another teammate must respawn and lower the elevator.

It is also possible for the aforementioned glitch to be performed due to poor connection. When going up the elevator, if one player has a poor connection, they may fall through the floor.

If a character falls through the elevator, exit the game and re-enter before the host gives the elevator time enough to reach the bottom again; there have been cases where a character can enter the elevator, although on the screen it has stopped half way. Once activated, the elevator will reach the top and then proceed above Crawmerax's area by half of its height before disappearing, leaving the character at ground level for the fight.

There is a possibility for Crawmerax to use his area attack and knock players on to the surrounding cliffs, making him very easy to kill from a distance, as he can only use his ranged attack.

Killing Crawmerax multiple times without picking up any drops may cause new drops to be unavailable to players who aren't the host. These drops do appear over time and/or from death/re-entry via elevator. The error is likely caused by bandwidth constraints.

When Lilith is in Phasewalk, she can't be seen by Crawmerax. In solo play, if a Siren uses Phasewalk before passing the red barrier to enter the battlefield, Crawmerax will not spawn until she exits Phasewalk. This can be a useful tool for finding a vantage point before starting the fight, and allows time to kill his minions before he even spawns.

When exiting the elevator, a player can run to the left side (directly Northwest-West) and hide in the small crevice against the cliff. Crawmerax and his minions will not be able to see a character there; they will simply roar without moving or attacking.

Note: This does not work all the time for some reason.

Also, a player can run right and hide in another crevice there. In two player both players can hide, allowing them to avoid direct attacks from Crawmerax the Invincible[citation needed]. Finding the right safe spot is not as easy as finding the left one.

If Crawmerax gets too close to a player using the ledge glitch and decides to attack, kneeling down will avoid most or all damage.

When using the ledge glitch. The player must get enough distance from Crawmerax and his minions. If they get too close, they will attack.

There is a glitch with certain ledges where crawmerax will roar, but not attack. This is good for players because they can take out his weak points and then jump down and take out his back.

Notes

There are several skeletons similar to that of Crawmerax all over the desert, implying that he is the last of his kind due to his hibernation or that Craw Worms cannot survive in deserts. The Crab Worms that occupy caves and Craw Maggots that accompany Crawmerax suggest that they require moist environments to survive.

Killing Crawmerax won't grant a Second Wind, however, killing one of his minions will. In addition should Crawmerax be killed before bleeding to death and respawning, the kill will register and will not start the fight again from scratch (though the New-U Reconstruction Fee will still be paid upon respawning and heading back up to the battlefield with the elevator to claim the loot).

Returning to the Deep Fathoms (exiting his lair) and coming back will cause him to respawn, enabling him to be killed several times without having to exit to the menu and drive all the way back.

Crawmerax and his minions will respawn (any progress in taking out critical hit points will be lost) if a solo player or the entire team dies during the fight.

Killing Crawmerax is a trigger for scaling events, as such killing him while the player is significantly lower in level will cause subsequent content to scale to the level 60 range (i.e. Killing him on playthrough 1 while level 45 will cause DLC4 to scale to level 60 essentially making it impossible to complete without further leveling).

Some players report that Borderlands begins to lag after about three times of killing Crawmerax due to accumulated memory demands from all the item drops. This can be avoided by retrieving and selling off loot.